Gruta São Mateus

Gruta São Mateo

Useful Information

Location:	4 km from the city of Bonito-MS. (-21.134327, -56.454231)
Open:	All year daily 7-16:30. [2020]
Fee:	Low Season: Adults BRL 50, Children (5-11) BRL 7.20, Children (0-4) not allowed. High Season: Adults BRL 65, Children (5-11) BRL 7.20, Children (0-4) not allowed. High Season is on Holiday Weekends and school holidays. [2020]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	T=23-26 °C, A=150 m asl.
Guided tours:	D=90 min, St=60.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Gruta de São Mateus, Rod Turismo Km 02 Rural, Bonito - MS, 79290-000, Tel: +55-67-3255-1302. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2019	35º Congresso Brasileiro de Espeleologia (35º CBE) held in Bonito.

Description

Gruta de São Mateus (Saint Matthew Cave) is located only 4 km east of Bonito. The ticket office and museum is located inside a renovated barn. There is an exhibition of old cars and machinery, and the actual tour starts from the first floor. Visitors are equipped with grey helmets and then leave the building on a wooden suspended walkway which ends at the hillside behind the building. From here its 280 m walk to the cave. In front of the cave entrance is a nice outlook. The development of the cave is a bit rough, steps are uneven, have different sizes or are slanted. The trail is often narrow or low, so the helmets are actually a good idea. But the cave has nice formations and some interesting geologic features.

The cave is quite rustic, which starts at the ticket office aka museum. There is an oldtimer car and stuffed animals, which died on the ground and were stuffed to show the visitors what animals live in the area. Some find it weird, but actually animals stuffed, which were dead anyway, is much better than a zoo.

Quite astonishing is the similarity to nearby Grutas de São Miguel. It seems this cave was developed by the work of the owner and his family and is a result of their personal ideas, work, and creativity over decades. The other cave was discovered only 20 years ago and we get the impression the owner tried to copy this cave but make it all bigger. More modern ticket office, bigger museum, longer bridge, bigger cave. However, what he forgot: this is the original and he has the copy.